[Tango-L] New generation of milongueros

[WHITE 95 R]

Just to bring another viewpoint to this discussion, let's define what's meant by "milonguero". If the definition of milonguero is: and old Argentinean man over 65 0r 70 years old who dances tango very well but very subtly and has never taken a tango lesson in his long life of frequenting milongas. Then indeed it's impossible for anyone outside of a handful of guys in BsAs to be a "milonguero".

OTOH, if one looks at other definitions, such as the Lunfardo Dictionary from Todotango, other conclusions may be achieved. To wit, the Lunfardo dictionary defines milonguero thusly:

MILONGUERO/RA
        (pop.) Cantor de Milongas// aficionado o concurrente 
          asiduo a los bailes populares// bailarín de Milongas// chismoso// 
          embustero// intrigante.
In English, it says: singer of milogas// aficionado, frequenter of popular dances//Dancer of milongas// gossip// fabricator of lies// manipulator, conspirator.

Obviously, the second set of definitions would make room for a lot of people to become or to claim to be milongueros. I think that the term "milonguero" has been appropriated mostly by non Argentinean tango dancers to define a dancer of unusual skill and with unusual characteristics. I think it's rather facile to grab a lunfardo term and change it to serve as a particular definition, but it's rather disturbing in a way because it still retains some of the original parts of the definition such as a frequenter to popular dances or a dancer at milongas. This means that people who can legitimately claim the title of "milonguero/ra" as per the original lunfardo definition, are denied by those who use the newer definition.

Cheers,

Manuel


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> Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:15:04 -0700
> From: railogic at yahoo.com
> To: Tango-L at mit.edu
> Subject: Re: [Tango-L] New generation of milongueros
> 
> Janis is right.
>    
>   The milonguero became a milonguero by dancing for long time, his dance is refined by the number of miles around milonga ..and the tens of years.